Thank you Rangers

So many things to say - but for me it comes down to this:

Thank You New York Rangers.

Thanks for a great season - a big step forward - and the most exciting ride we've had in a long time. We got within 2 wins of the Stanley Cup finals. And in the 4 games we lost to the Devils - we had the lead in one and fought back from multi-goal deficits to tie the other two.

The thing to remember is that - for the most part - we are a young team on the rise.

Next year we can fully expect that Krieder, Stepan, McDonaugh, Hagelin, and others will be better hockey players. And there is no reason to expect any drop off from Callahan, Dublinsky, Lundqvist, Staal, Girardi, ... and so on. You get the idea.

We were one of the last 3 teams standing. Our guys played hockey the right way - tough, selfless, accountable - something we've been waiting for a long time.

So I'm going to try and look past how close we came to beating New Jersey. It's hard - but I'll get there.

I'm going to look at this year as the start of something great.

And to Tortorella and the team I say:

Thank you men!

Let's go Rangers.

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Come on guys - Get this One

Friends - a season is on the brink tonight. It's been a great ride - but can the Rangers get it to last one more game?

Look. If the Devils can beat us 3 in a row they deserve to win. But this team - this season - has always found a way when they had too.

It's going to come down to a few things.
1 - Who scores first.

2 - Which Henrik do we get tonight - the all-world King or the lapsing-Lundqvist we've seen at crucial moments?.

3 - Did the Rangers learn that they can score on the Devils by moving forward - more easily than they can beat them by falling back?

Win or lose - these are our guys. This is our team. We go forward - or we go down - together.

We are BlueShirt Brothers.

Let's go Rangers! Get this one!
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Ranger comeback falls short - Devils up 3-2.

Tough, tough loss kids. You want positives? Okay - sure. Absolutely.

Tortorella said it himself: "We played, probably, our best game of the series"

And it's true.

From the 10 minute mark of period one to the 15 minute mark of period three - the Rangers - finally - out shot - out hit - and thoroughly dominated the Devils - outscoring them 3-0 in that span.

They hung together, hung in there, and almost hung a catastrophic loss on the Devils. They came back from 3 goals down to tie the game at 3-3.

It was a great hockey game for what it's worth - with some great and terrible moments.

Brad Richards put the hardest shot on his own goal that I have ever seen in my life. Lundqvist had to make a high save - and he did - but what in the world was Brad doing? I still can't believe what I saw.

We had Callahan knocking the puck in the net (the right net this time) with his skate - causing all of us to contemplate what a "distinct kicking motion" is. Luckily the NHL review team in Toronto loves close games.

We had the fat Brodeur misplay the puck and have it end up in his own net - with help from Gaborik - to tie the score.

And - I have to mention - we had the worst of Henrik Lundqvist when we needed him most. 3 goals on 3 consecutive shots in the first period. Hank? How is that even possible?
And then the crushing number 4 with less than 5 minutes to play. In the end Lundqvist had a 0.750 save percentage - not good enough - but thje Devils did have some "puck luck" as coach Tortorella phrased it later.

Still - when the Rangers attacked - it exposed the Devils weak defense and aging goaltender. And as soon as they tied the score and started tightening their defense - the Devils regrouped and started gaining their advantage again.

Goals for Prust (like that guy), Callahan amd Gaborik. The return for Dubinsky.

But in the end - well, you know.

But if you want positives - 40 minutes of our best hockey of the series. And we're at full strength. And there's that history. The Friday game 6 will be exactly 18 years to the day after our historic game 6 win in New Jersey.

So keep your heads up Ranger Fans. The Devils can't beat us 3 games in a row. We just need to win game 6. And we can.

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Rupp Punches Marty! (Rangers lose 4-1)

Well, that was pretty bad. The Rangers continued their woeful performance in even-numbered series games - getting blown out 4-1 in Newark by the Devils.

The team scoring the first goal has won the last 12 Ranger games - and when Salvador's shot from the left point went through 6 different screening players on it's way to finding a tiny gap in the King's legs for 1-0 Devils lead, you had the feeling - 4 minutes in - that this one was over.

It was.

Still - we have a nice piece of good news:

Mike Rupp punched Marty Brodeur. I repeat: Mike Rupp punched Marty Brodeur.

In his crease. During the game. And Brodeur - acting or for-real - was rocked by the blow. Best of all - Rupp is a former teammate of Matry's - with his name on the Cup as a Devil.

"You don't like to see that," Devil's coach DeBoer said of the incident - a statement Dave Pucks disagrees with 100 percent. I did like seeing that - it was the rest of the game that I was unhappy with.

The Devil's coach and John Tortorella got into another bench-to-bench screaming match to add to the festive playoff atmosphere. I can easily see Torts and DeBoer dropping the gloves before this is over (not that they wear gloves - but you know what I mean).

Other Ranger high points were few and far between. We didn't let up a goal in the 2nd. And we broke up the fat man's shutout late in the third.

Fedotenko slipped one past the old man at 14:55 - assisted by Delzy and Richards. Too little and too late - but at least the only shutouts in this series still belong to Hank - who stopped 26 of the 29 shots he faced for a .896 save percentage.

So now - the Rangers - who have only won 2 or 3 periods so far in this series - have to win a best-of-three game series. With two at home.

Taking a step back - we needed the split in Jersey and we got it. We just need to win game 5 and everything tilts way back in our favor.

Let's go Rangers.




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Come On Lucky Seven – Rangers Try (AGAIN) For 2 Game Series lead

As incredible as it seems – the Rangers have had 7 opportunities to take a 2 game lead in the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs. Their 7th attempt is tonight. They've failed in each of their first 6 tries.

They led the Senators series 1-0, and 2-1 but lost the 2nd and 4th games. They led the Washington series 1-0, 2-1, and 3-2 but each time lost the next game - the one that could have put them 2 games up. And they led the Devils series 1-0 and lost game 2, before jumping up 2-1 on Saturday and setting the stage for tonight's seventh try at a two game series lead.

You can't help but wonder if sooner or later, the Rangers wasting all these chances will come back to bite them. On the other hand – the playoffs have worked out just fine so far – with the Rangers dominating in the odd number games, winning their first two series against Ottawa and Washington, and leading in their third against the Devils.

The Devils have outplayed the Blueshirts for probably 6 or 7 of the 9 periods they've played – but still the Rangers lead the series 2-1 and had a late 2nd period lead in the one game they did lose. The moment to take control of this series is now. The Devils are frustrated – coming off a shutout loss in their own building. This could be our best chance to beat them.

The Devils split with the Rangers at MGS. Can the Rangers sweep the Devils in Newark? It won't be easy – but then again- the Rangers have been doing it the hard way all year.

We'll find out tonight.





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A Tale Of Two Goalies

Two goalies competed saturday afternoon. One played very well.

The other was perfect.

Through two periods the Devils outshot the Rangers 26-14. And through two both Marty Brodeur and Henrik Lundqvist stopped everything that came their way - with the Devils getting more quality chances and Hank matching them with quality saves.

And so - for the third consecutive game - we started the third period tied.

And from there - Hank was unstoppable - unbeatable - and in a zone that I've never seen him in - a man possessed.

And like game one - the Rangers rose up and grabbed it.

The similarities between contest 1 and 3 were eerie.

Girardi scored the first (again). On the PowerPlay the Ranger defenseman got a free shot in the slot. He started from Brodeur's left but shot it to the chubby old goalie's left. Marty had a pretty good look at it - but could not grab it.

A huge goal - the team scoring first have won each of the last 11 Ranger playoff games. And all the Devil's hard work - all their chances - and all of Brodeur's saves - were for nothing - the Rangers had their 1-0 lead with 16 minutes to play.

The Devils tried to rally back - but Hank - with the stick - the body - the glove - the post - and the crossbar - kept the shutout going.

And then - just like game one - Chris Kreider got the Ranger's 2nd goal. This was a big league deflection - a perfect redirect of a a Ryan McDonagh bullet towards the net with 14 minutes to play.

And the Rangers had a 2-0 lead to protect.

And in the end it was - like game 1 - an empty netter that got us to the final score. This time Ryan Callhan - who hadn't scored a playoff goal in a long while - gave the Rangers their final margin.

Henrik Lundqvist - in the biggest games of his life - is playing his best hockey. He handled a Zack Parise 2-on-1 high shot by staying upright and getting the puck with the handle of his stick. And he dove backwards and stretched out the glove to deny Kovalchuk on a breakaway.

Marty Brodeur played well and had a .906 save percentage. Good game. But that doesn't beat the 1.000 save percentage posted by The King.

Outshot 34-24 - the Rangers outhit the Devils 24-15.

Assists for Callahan (to go with his goal), Fedotenko, Richards, Boyle, and McDonagh.

Now - the Devils have to look themselves in the mirror and wonder if they can do better than 3 goals in 3 games. They have to wonder if they can score on Lundqvist. Because they keep outplaying us - but their 40-year-old goalie can beat ours.

And now - the cup is 6 wins away. And - incredible as it seems - if the Rangers win 6 more home games.....

Think about it.

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Even Number Game Woes Continue - Rangers Drop Game 2

If you like trends and data mining - the 2012 Rangers Playoffs have been full of goodies for you.

Three times now the Rangers have lost game two after winning game one. For the 6th time in 7 tries the Rangers have lost an even-numbered game.

Of course - the trend has been that we win the series - so let's hope that keeps up as well.

So - again - we've lost home ice advantage and a lot is riding on game three.

And again - we can't do things the easy way.

Kovalchuk scored first in the first - on the powerplay - to put the Devils in front. But then in the 2nd the Rangers scored a pair to take the lead. Staal and then Kreider on the powerplay and the Rangers led 2-1

But the tide turned (I hate when tides do that). Carter - off a deflection at 18:09 of the 2nd sent the Devils into the locjer room tied 2-2. And so - for the 2nd straight contest we entered the third period tied,

This time - unfortunately - it was Clarkson - who broke the tie with one of the best deflections I have ever witnessed. He held the stick at shoulder level - parallel to the ice - and redirected the puck down - off the post - and in past a helpless Lundqvist.

And with that the Devils clamped down and stopped the scoring right there - with the referees helping by basically not calling any more penalties - motivated in part by the incredible occurrence of the Devil penalty box being broken and unusable earlier in the contest.

Marian Gaborik was involved in two memorable if unfortunate sequences. He failed to try and block a shot with his body which led to the Kovalchuk goal. Tortorella benched the Ranger sharpshooter until midway through the third for that omission.

And Gabby was the unwilling cause of one of the best saves the old fat Brodeur has made in years. With the bloated geezer flailing on his stomach, Gaborick got a Richards feed at point blank range and lifted the puck toward the Devil net. From his stomach - Brodeur bent his right knee - lifting the back of his leg in perfect time to make a massively lucky and unlikely save.

With everything that went wrong in Ranger town - we still scored twice and had a lead and a chance to win.

As mentioned - goals for Staal and Kreider. Assists for Richards, Girardi, Stralmann and Anisimov.

Rangers out hit the Devils 39-34, but were outshot 27-25

So we go to game 3 - still just 7 wins from Lord Stanley's cup - but fighting to regain our lost home ice advantage.

Let's go Rangers

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